Rally Planned to Support Clean Water Protection Laws

Louisville residents plan to gather tomorrow in Chickasaw to raise awareness of issues facing Kentucky’s rivers. The event is planned in coordination with eight others around Kentucky.Lauren McGrath works for the Sierra Club, and she says the rally’s goal is to send a message to Governor Steve Beshear’s Administration.“Recently we’ve seen them working to weaken the Clean Water Act and say things like ‘EPA get off our backs’ and seeing members of the Beshear Administration testify before Congress to weaken parts of it,” she said.McGrath says Clean Water laws shouldn’t favor industry over people.“As Kentuckians, we’re saying, actually, rather than putting the coal industry first we want the health of communities and clean water to be prioritized,” she said. “So, it’s sort of a grassroots effort to step it up and say that we want you to be kind of called to task to enforce the Clean Water Act.”The Rally for the Rivers will be held at noon tomorrow at River View Park. It will include speeches, water testing and a picnic. Similar rallies are also scheduled for other locations around the state.